(...continued)

The silence stretched... there was no answer... though the knocking seemed to halt.

And then there was a faint...

"Help me...please..."

The sound barely carried.

It wasn’t spoken so much as breathed, dragged out of lungs that no longer had the strength to hold it.

Dax’s heart lurched violently.

His head snapped towards the sound, every instinct flaring at once.

"That voice..." he whispered.

No.

No, that was...

"Please..." the woman murmured again, weaker now. "I can’t...I can’t get out on my own...I am...kind of...stuck here...who’s there? Please help..."

His breath stalled in his chest.

He stepped closer despite himself, boots sliding over the stone with agonizing slowness. The tunnel curved sharply here, the wall ahead stacked with uneven slabs of rock...layered like a seal rather than a collapse.

"Lady Autumn?" His voice came out rough, disbelieving. "That’s... that’s not possible."

A faint, broken sound answered him... almost a sign lit up...

"Is that you,Beta Dax?" Autumn whispered. "Can’t believe my luck though it’s definitely not been a lucky day!"

His knees locked.

The world was starting to make absolutely no sense anymore. What would Lady Autumn be doing buried underground beneath the Blackmoon fortress? It was as absurd as it did sound.

"No," Dax said again, sharper now, shaking his head as if denial alone could rewrite reality. "You went with the Alpha. You left in front of all of us.You were supposed to be beyond the eastern ridges by now.How am I hearing your voice...it’s not possible..."

A weak cough echoed from behind the stones.

"We didn’t make it that far. There were a lot of things going on ," she breathed. "Dax... I don’t have time to explain everything. Not right now.Time is running out...and so is my breath...please help me out..."

Her voice faltered...thinned...like a thread stretched too tight.

"Please," she whispered. "The stones... just the top layers. I can’t feel my legs properly anymore. There’s nothing left in my veins I think. I used everything I had to get till here."

Dax stared at the rock face.

His vision blurred...not from tears, but from sheer disbelief.

Every instinct screamed urgency.

Her scent was wrong...thin, frayed, threaded with blood and spent magic. The kind of exhaustion that came only after someone had gone far beyond their limits.She wasn’t lying.

"You are...Are you trapped?" He said slowly, as if speaking the words might help him understand them better.

"Yes," Autumn admitted quietly. "And if you don’t help me now... I won’t be for much longer...there’s a lot at stake..."

His hands trembled as they lifted towards the stones...then stopped midair.

His mind rebelled.

This didn’t fit.

This wasn’t part of what he understood... too much deception all around to believe mere words.

"You can’t be here," he said hoarsely. "You were with Alpha Kiera. You were supposed to find Freya..." He repeated like a broken record.

A pause.

Then, softer than before...

"We did," Autumn said. " But a lot happened there after... Don’t you understand what I am saying?"

Dax’s heart skipped painfully.

"But I can only do the explanation..." she continued, her breath uneven now, "...after you get me out."

His chest rose and fell too fast.

Everything inside him pulled in opposite directions...duty, instinct, disbelief, fear.

Autumn...the mighty, powerful force that she had become...reduced to a faint voice behind stone? At the Blackmoon stronghold of all places?

Buried.

Drained.

Waiting for him? Not technically him but help... yes...

Like what the fuck?

Dax pressed his forehead briefly against the cold rock, eyes closing for a single, unguarded second.

"What in the Moon’s name happened?" he whispered.

The stones did not answer.

Only Autumn’s uneven breathing echoed back to him...definitely fragile, fading...forcing him to face a truth his mind was still struggling to accept.

Autumn being there...nothing about that made sense.

"Dax... please..."

Autumn’s voice broke.

Not cracked...broke, like something inside her had finally given way.

"I don’t have much left," she whispered, words slurring at the edges now. "I wouldn’t beg you if it wasn’t... if it wasn’t this bad."

Dax’s fists clenched at his sides.

"Stop," he said, forcing steadiness into his tone. "You are not making sense. You are supposed to be with..."

"Kieran," she cut in weakly. "Yes! Yes! For the hundredth time, yes. I know.I told you. I was."

Her breathing hitched.

"And he is in danger too, " she said. "Bad danger. And so are the children."

That did it.

Dax stiffened, every trace of hesitation snapping taut.

"What did you just say?Children?" he demanded.

Behind the stones, Autumn coughed harshly, the sound wet and painful.

"They are running out of time," she gasped. "All of them. Freya... Kieran... Jasper. Willa. My father..."

Dax’s heart thundered.

"You are saying my Alpha’s life is at stake?" he pressed, voice dropping into something deadly quiet.

"Yes," Autumn breathed. "And if you don’t get me out of here now, you won’t even know where to start looking...besides, it would be useless, Dax. All will be lost..."

Silence swallowed the tunnel.

For one suspended moment, Dax stood perfectly still...mind racing, instincts colliding, disbelief screaming to be heard.

Then duty won... over logic... over fear...

"Alright," he said at last, jaw set. "Move away from the stones."

A faint, humorless sound escaped her. "I... can’t."

That sent a jolt of urgency through him.

"Then stay back as much as you can," he ordered. "I am going to get you out."

He stepped closer to the rock face.

The stones were stacked deliberately...layers of slate and old granite wedged together with ancient spell.

Dax tested the top slab with his hands, muscles tensing.

"Who did this to you?" he muttered under his breath.

"No one you would know.Stop talking Dax. You will need your strength," Autumn whispered faintly. " I will try to undo the spell that binds these rocks. You lift the boulders on the count of three... two... "

He frowned...but didn’t stop.

With controlled force, he shifted the first stone free. It scraped loudly as it slid aside, dust puffing into the air.

He froze, listening...waiting for wards to trigger, for traps to spring.

Nothing.

He removed another.

And another.

Though each movement was measured. Skeptical. Careful.

"Easy... easy..." he murmured, more to himself than to her.

His wolf strained beneath his skin, urging him to hurry, to rip the barrier apart...but Dax refused to rush blindly.

The scent hit him next.

Blood.

Burnt magic.

And exhaustion so deep it made his chest ache.

"Are you...alright?" he said sharply, hands working faster now. "You seem... you seem... hurt... "

"Yes...," she scoffed, " been telling you to hurry up, " she whispered. "It’s... getting dark."

"Talk," he ordered. "Just keep talking."

A weak breath. "Yes Beta. You finally see some sense..."

Despite everything, his lips twitched grimly.

"Stone number five," he muttered, wrenching it loose.

The gap widened.

Light from his side spilled through...and suddenly, there she was.

Autumn’s face emerged from the shadows.

Pale.

As if hollow

Streaked with dried blood and ash.

Her hair clung damply to her forehead, and her eyes...those blue power houses...were dull with exhaustion, fluttering as if struggling to stay open.

She swayed.

"Lady Autumn!" Dax lunged forward, dropping the last stone as it clattered to the ground.

She sagged against the opening, barely conscious.

"I knew..." she whispered faintly, lips trembling. "Help would be near... "

And then her strength gave out.

Her head dipped forward, eyes almost slipping shut as her body went limp...caught between the darkness behind her and the stunned, outstretched hands of the Beta... she stumbled forward with her hands spread out for balance.